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Testing The Behavioral Responses Of West Virginia Turtles To Roads And Vehicles, Aaron Clinton Gooley
Testing The Behavioral Responses Of West Virginia Turtles To Roads And Vehicles, Aaron Clinton Gooley
Theses, Dissertations and Capstones
Road mortality has been identified as a major threat to many turtle species; however, response to passing vehicles, crossing speed, and general behavior while crossing roads has never been investigated in turtles. To investigate these factors, Midland Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta marginata), Eastern Box Turtles (Terrapene c. carolina), and Stinkpots (Sternotherus odoratus) were collected and placed in a release box on the side of a closed road with an active road running parallel to it 26 m away. Turtles were released via a pulley-operated door facing the road, and their actions videotaped by an …